16.12.2015 • 45/2015
German Economy: Strong domestic demand compensates for weak exports
The upturn of the German economy is expected to gain further momentum as a consequence of strong domestic demand. Real gross domestic product is expected to increase by 1.6% in 2016. Consumer prices are expected to rise by 0.9%. Unemployment is expected to rise slightly because it will take time to integrate refugees into the labour market.
Oliver Holtemöller
Read press release
03.12.2015 • 44/2015
Migration Affects Labour Market in Eastern Germany
Migration increasingly affects the labour market in Eastern Germany, having effects on employment and unemployment figures as well as the number of recipients of social assistance benefits under the SGB II regulations. Particularly with countries in Middle and Eastern Europe, countries affected by the European debt and confidence crisis and with people seeking asylum, there are large increases meeting the dimensions in Western Germany. However, migrants overall still form a significantly smaller percentage of the population and other labour market parameters in Eastern Germany, since migration was a lot stronger in Western Germany during the last decades. While on the short run negative effects on unemployment have to be expected, there are also chances, in the medium- and long-term, to soften the expectable demographic problems, if integration and qualification are supported.
Oliver Holtemöller
Read press release
Joint Forecast: Migration of Refugees will Challenge Economic Policy
Roland Döhrn, Ferdinand Fichtner, Oliver Holtemöller, Timo Wollmershäuser
Wirtschaftsdienst,
No. 10,
2015
Abstract
According to the Autumn 2015 Joint Forecast German GDP will grow by 1.8% in this year and in the next year also. Thus the business cycle upswing will continue to be moderate. Lower growth in the emerging markets will show a dampening effect on exports whereas private consumption will gain momentum, given a strong labor market and an increase in real wages. However, new workers are increasingly recruited from the non-active population and among immigrants, leaving unemployment more or less unchanged. In the next year, the huge current inflow of refugees will increasingly influence the number of unemployed. For economic policy the challenge is to integrate refugees into the labour market as soon as possible.
Read article